From what I read, it sounds like when a light ray passes from one medium to the other, if the critical angle is reached so that the refractive ray is at 90 degree with the normal, the light ray does ...

I was studying geometrical optics particularly refraction on a prism and thougt that if we change the apex angle of prism by some means or if we take different prism with different apex angle , will ...

Im coupling 1550nm output from a single-mode lensed optical fiber to a standard SMF using a pair of collimating lenses, matched to the NA of the respective fibers. However, I find that by increasing ...

I Studied In my previous Standards that Light Parallel to principal axis passes through focus always in Concave Mirror.
But Now In one Book I read that there is a condition which should be followed ...

I have an optical system made by two thin lenses with a stop between them. How can I find the chief ray in this optical system? Obviously I find a parameteric method assuming:
$f_1:$ focal length of ...

If I want to resolve two close but different wavelengths $\lambda_{1}$ and $\lambda_{2}$ to the second order in my experiment using a grating of spacing $d$, is the size of the grating ($D = Nd$) I ...

a convex lens forms a real image of a point object at a distance of 50 cm from convex lens. a concave lens is placed 10 cm behind convex lens on image side. on placing a plane mirror on the image side ...

Let's consider a ray in the plane $xy$. Let the refractive index be defined in any point of the plane with the function $n(x,y)$.
In time $t=0$ the ray is located in coordinates $(x_0, y_0)$ and its ...

While measuring the angle of the prism with the help of telescope in a spectrometer (see figure below), the observed angle is twice the angle of the prism. Can someone prove it geometrically?
Edit : ...

Last week I encountered a very cool optical phenomenon. A photo was sandwiched between the two glass plate to make the paperweight. The cool part is the picture seems to have been pasted on the top ...

This is a conceptual question. I already know the law of refraction but I need something like an idea of the Physical process from both particle and wave theory standpoints.
Why does a ray of light ...

I'm using matlab for tracing rays in 3D through an optical system.
I have a 3D prism which its yz cross section is a parabola, and its xz cross section is flat. It has non negligible thickness. I know ...

When trying to understand the refraction of light when it hits a slower medium, lots of people seem to be enlightened by the 'marching band' or 'marching soldiers' analogy, which 'explains' that when ...

when I was working on a cylindrical glassy bottle that filled with water, I found that the initial light intensity is less than the final light intensity. (It's clear but I experiment this) This is ...

I posted a similar question about geodesics on Math.SE. Many sources (Wikibooks for instance) claim that the light could maximize the optical path length in some cases. But I don't think it's actually ...

Suppose I have a completely cylindrical surface which is silvered on the inside. I want to know what type of reflection takes place when an object is placed inside the ring.
Does infinite reflections ...

In special atmospheric condition it is possible to see coastline that normally is behind the horizon. It is apparently lifted to become visible. In Scandinavian the phenomenon is called 'hildring', a ...

I was recently reviewing geometric optics, during which I read about Huygens' Principle and how it could be used to prove the Law of Reflection from the "light is a wave" viewpoint. I'll quote what I ...

I have a design for a setup to look at the light reflecting off the back of the human retina. I would like to remove any specular reflection that occurs at the cornea. At the moment the idea is to use ...